Incorporated with myriads of typical Chinese elements, Meng Yan’s paintings usually have auspiciously rouge background, wide lotus leaves, flourishing peonies, and majestic phoenixes reminding one vividly of the traditional Chinese New Year painting, which is no longer easy to find nowadays.

While echoing those traditional paintings that people use to pray for fortune and luck, Meng’s works have revealed her unique personal thoughts about fortune and joy. She possesses a deep cherishing of fortune among the uncertainties, believing it is important that whilst you have it, you have to balance it. In other words, fortune needs to be treasured, or otherwise, it might be easily lost. In one of her paintings, she has captured the moment of happiness onto the canvas through depicting a group of girls playing happily on the unstable clouds; while showcasing the riskiness of endeavouring to balance themselves, she also implies that perhaps they will fall down from heaven the next second.

Moreover, projecting the long-lasting memory of childhood happiness on the canvas, Meng creatively builds up a wonderful dreamland with memory of joy. She amazes her audience and brings them back to the once-forgotten childhood to embrace a simple and carefree life. Through the sanguine complexion of the cute and baby-like figures, who often freely play up in the sky in the paintings, Meng injects happiness and vigour into the paintings, and also demonstrates her pursuit of purity, optimism, liveliness and freedom.

Born in Shandong in 1982, Meng Yan obtained both undergraduate and master degrees in Oil Painting Department of Sichuan Fine Arts Institute. After completing her graduate school study in 2010, Meng Yan decided to return to her birthplace to further pursue her artistic career. She is one of the up-and-coming contemporary artists from China, and her works are visually stunning and vibrant. By presenting a sense of harmoniousness, Meng Yan paints an indelible mark on people’s hearts.

-EC Gallery

Image: © Meng Yan